Creative Nonfiction #53, our first-ever readers' choice theme issue, is dedicated to MISTAKES. We've collected an explosive group of essays exploring wrong turns and missteps—from a dramatic prison protest to an ill-advised game of strip-spin-the-bottle, from a bad tattoo to the epidemic of errors plaguing our healthcare system. Together, these true stories grapple with questions that get at the heart of how to live.

Plus, why building a platform is a waste of a writer's time, why publishing won't make you happy, and why readers shouldn't worry (too much) about the occasional typo. With illustrations by Kelly Blevins.

This issue is currently sold out.
A digital edition is available here.

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• What's the Story? by Lee Gutkind
  From the editor
• "Platforms" Are Overrated by Stephanie Bane
  Writers shouldn’t worry so much about building a presence on social media
• Letting Go of Shame 
  A conversation with Best Essay prize-winner Suzanne Roberts
• What You Learn in College by Karen Donley-Hayes
  How to play strip spin-the-bottle
• The Correctors by Carol Fisher Saller
  Think you can be a copyeditor? It's more complicated than it looks